Why Do Comic Books Still Have Ads?

While mocking Marvel’s ads recently I made a realization…there are actually very few ads in comic books these days. That is to say atraditional ad that has nothing to do with the product you’re reading. Therecent Punisher issue that I read had about 10 ads within the issue and twelvein total counting the covers, but they were all for Marvel products or other Marvel comics. That basically means that no outside money was received to help the productionof the book. That’s a bit weird no? I’m sure that everyone just completelyblocks out the ads as do I, so why the hell do they put them in there anymore?Also you’re a total ass if you say "marketing" and give me some stock answerbullshit like you never know who will find it, blah, blah I know why they actually do it. The questions becomes should they still be doing it.

I decide to see if this was just Marvel or if DC was muchthe same. Sure DC loves to put mini-comics in the middle of what you're reading, but whatabout when there isn’t a foot long deal to promote? Much to my surprise it was basicallythe same thing. I counted two ads that did not directly tie-in to a Warner’s orDC product. Then I checked out Dark Horse and they had three ads that weren’tDark Horse products. Image always has ads for other titles, but they're shoved atthe end of the book. That honestly made the most sense to me; if people wantedan ad just throw it at the back. Then you’re appeasing that 2% of your audiencethat doesn’t go on the Internet to get their news information and you’re notannoying the rest of us that know where to find the information or just read Previews every month. Really you shouldjust read Previews if you’re lookingfor title release info; it's five bucks and hours of reading as you try to navigate their terrible layout.

Back to the question, if Marvel and DC and the smaller print companies aren’t selling adspace or at best keeping it very limited why do we need to suffer through adpages that break up the story that we’re shelling out 3 to 4 bucks for? One oftwo things needs to happen with comic book ads:

1) Get rid of the ads or moving them all to the back –Honestly when I’m done reading an Image comic I flip through the shit at theback. Sure I’ve heard of all the titles, but I know that some people read onlycertain books or genres from Image and this helps them. What the fuck is everyone else’s excuse?Are you honestly going to tell me that Marvel fans wouldn’t just flip throughfive double sided pages at the end of the issue to see what else to expect? Ithink they would, or they probably just go to their site to get the info. Ifthey don’t go there, there are thousands of other websites that will tell youabout it. If you’re not going to sell the ad space to anyone other thanyourself then get rid of the clutter or move it to the back so it doesn’t fuckup the storytelling. You wonder why people buy the trades; there are no fuckingads in the middle of a key scene. Maybe you're killing the single issue sales with your own dinosaur ideas.

2) Sell the ad space – Seems like a no brainer right? I seetons of comic related sites and stores selling products that appeal to comicfans why the hell aren’t they in your comic books? Seems to me that either theprice of ads is too high or they aren’t bothering to let them in the book. Ifeven a lower amount of ad revenue kept the price of comics down I would be onboards with it. We’re all kidding ourselves if we think that comics are goingto stay at $2.99. Don’t forget DC drew that line in the sand and sand changeswith the wind. Most indies are already at the 3.50 or 3.99 price tag so they could benefit from the most foot work. Bottomline, pay an asshole to sell ads like the print market has always done. It’s asimple formula that’s always worked so use it.

These are just my thoughts though, I could be completely offand talking out of my ass. But take a look at the next comic you read. Surethere are a ton of ads, but I bet you don’t even take a second glance at them.Well do, look at the damn things and tell me how many of them don’t have todo with the company’s product you’re reading.